AIM The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY).METHOD The PEM-CY examines participation frequency, extent of involvement, and desire for change in sets of activities typical for the home, school, or community. Items in the 'Environment' section examine perceived supports and barriers to participation within each setting. Data were collected via an online survey from caregivers of children and young people, aged 5 to 17 years, with and without a range of different disabilities, residing in the USA and Canada. Caregivers were eligible for inclusion if (1) they identified themselves as a parent or legal guardian of the child who was the focus of the survey; (2) they were able to read English; and (3) their child was between 5 and 17 years old at the time of enrolment.RESULTS Data were obtained from 576 respondents. About half were parents of children with disabilities and a little more than half were from Canada. Child mean age was 11 years (SD 3.1y); 54% were male and 46% were female. Internal consistency was moderate to good (0.59 and above) across the different scales. Test-retest reliability was moderate to good (0.58 and above) across a 1-to 4-week period. There were large and significant differences between the groups with and without disabilities on all participation and environment scales. Although there were some significant age differences, they did not follow a consistent pattern. INTERPRETATIONResults support the use of the PEM-CY for population-level studies to gain a better understanding of the participation of children and young people and the impact of environmental factors on their participation.

Given current variations in how participation is being defined, both developers and users of measures of participation need to be explicit about the definition of participation that a particular measure represents and the inferences that can be drawn from the scores.

The PEM-CY provides a new measure of participation and environment that reflects the perspectives of parents of children and youth. The instrument will facilitate research and professional practice to understand and support the participation of children and youth with and without disabilities.

Results provide insights about where greater efforts are needed to support community participation of school-age children with disabilities. Further study with a more diverse sample in terms of race/ethnicity, family income/education levels, and geographic region is needed to determine the extent to which results may be generalized.

Our findings highlight the unique role of the environment in explaining children's participation across different settings and, therefore, support the development of interventions targeting modifiable environmental factors.